Colors of Christmas enters seventh year

It’s time to break out the water colors, crayons and oil paint. The pastels, glitter and markers.

The seventh annual Catholic Voice Colors of Christmas art contest is just around the corner, with artwork created in November accepted at the newspaper by a Dec. 1 deadline.

Last year’s contest drew over 2,400 entries from kindergartners through sixth-graders across the archdiocese. That is nearly three times more than the contest’s first year, when the newspaper received 943 entries.

Underwritten by Catholic Mutual Group, the contest encourages students to use their faith, creativity and skill to reflect on and tell in a piece of art the story of Christ’s birth. This year, inspiration will be drawn from the second chapter in the Gospel of Luke, verses 1-20: Joseph and Mary traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, Mary giving birth to Jesus and the angels telling the shepherds: "Today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord."

Students in the archdiocese will compete in three categories by grade: kindergarten through first grade, second through third and fourth through sixth. All students are eligible, whether they are taught at home, in Catholic schools or religious education programs. Three art instructors from Catholic schools in the archdiocese will judge the contest.

As in past years, nine winners – the top three in each category – will have their entries published in the newspaper’s pre-Christmas edition, this year, Dec. 15. One of those nine will be showcased as the overall winner. First-place winners in each category will receive $75 in gift cards from participating Omaha-area Christian bookstores, second place $50 and third place $25. The overall winner will receive an additional $50 in gift cards.